Expert
The Essendon Bombers have won a fast-paced, engaging game of footy, were both teams impressed in every aspect except their goalkicking.
Essendon found themselves down 20 points at the final break, but ran over the top of the Crows in the final quarter to come away with a two-goal win.
Final score
Essendon Bombers 14.15 (99)
Adelaide Crows 12.15 (87)
Round 1 continues on Friday night as the Essendon Bombers host the Adelaide Crows at Etihad Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:50pm AEDT.
There’s a bit of a new look to both of these sides coming into tonight’s match. Essendon are debuting all three of their high-profile offseason acquisitions.
Devon Smith has been named to start in the midfield, expect him to have a big impact there. Meanwhile Jake Stringer and Adam Saad are named on the half-forward and half-back flanks respectively.
Despite the addition of Stringer, Essendon still seem to be intending to play Cale Hooker forward, and with Joe Daniher and James Stewart also name in the team, their forward line will be a very tall one.
Adelaide have been whacked with the injury stick a bit during the pre-season and their side is a bit understrength coming into this match.
Taylor Walker, Tom T Lynch and Brad Crouch are all big outs, and of course Jake Lever and Charlie Cameron have left the club over the offseason.
As a result they find themselves playing five new players – Bryce Gibbs and Darcy Fogarty will be the headline acts, but Sam Gibson, Tom Doedee and Lachlan Murphy are all getting a run too.
Prediction
Coming off a grand final appearance Adelaide look like the stronger team on paper but when you consider the injuries they’re dealing with, it becomes a much harder contest to judge.
Travelling interstate also often proves to be more of a challenge in Round 1 than it does in other weeks of the year.
That said, I’ll still tip the Crows, simply because neither side makes me feel particularly confident. It could go in just about any direction you can imagine.
Adelaide Crows by 10 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:50pm AEDT.